Israel Matzav: JPost calls for land, air and sea quarantine on Iran

JPost calls for land, air and sea quarantine on Iran

This is an interesting idea.

Anyway, the pace of economic sanctions is way out of sync with the progress the mullahs are making on their bomb. Even if Russia and China accepted a winter embargo on refined petroleum products entering Iran, is there any reason to imagine that the mere discomfort of the Iranian masses would take precedence for Khameini and Ahmadinejad over the bomb?

Obama should leapfrog over futile intermediate steps and place draconian sanctions on the table, now. To paraphrase John Kennedy during the Cuban Missile Crisis, this would mean that all ships and planes bound for Iran, from whatever nation, would be turned back.

Perhaps this prospect, coupled with a complete land, sea and air quarantine, can influence Iran's leaders to rethink their one-step-forward-two-steps-back strategy, and save humanity from an Iranian bomb.

There are three problems with this idea. First, a blockade like this is essentially a declaration of war, and is likely to be treated as such by Iran, and maybe by other countries like Venezuela and possibly even by Russia and China. Second, it may not be effective anyway. Third, enforcement would be difficult and would probably fall exclusively to the United States. The US has trouble policing the Iraq-Iran border now - how would it police all of Iran's borders.

If you're going to do this, it seems far simpler to just declare war and get it over with.

The problem is that Obama will do neither.

Israel Matzav: JPost calls for land, air and sea quarantine on Iran